Innovation News

Nutley, NJ — Sara Jerde reports in The Star-Ledger that a medical school that would occupy a former industrial site on the Clifton-Nutley border is one step closer to reality as Nutley officials are preparing to offer it a tax exemption and approve a redevelopment plan, NorthJersey.com reported.​

The Hoffmann-La Roche campus was sold in July to an affiliate of Prism Capital Partners. Ahead of the sale, Hackensack University Hospital and Seton Hall University announced their intentions to open the medical school at the former pharmaceutical campus.

In July, the medical school entered a longterm agreement to rent 16 acres, NorthJersey reported. Financial details were not disclosed.

The medical school, the state's fifth, is expected to open in the fall of 2017.

In January, it was announced that Bonita Stanton, a former pediatrician who served as a vice dean for research at Detroit's Wayne State University, has been named dean.

​Dr. Stanton is leaving Michigan, where she was vice dean of research at Wayne State University School of Medicine.

In her years in the industry, Dr. Stanton has worked with many populations in the U.S. and countries such as Bangladesh, China or Egypt, as well as sits on the editorial board of a number of journals.

“Whether working with low-income populations in the United States, women and children in Bangladesh, migrant workers in China or rural youth in Africa, Dean Stanton’s calling has been to bring the healing and compassion of health care to the world’s most vulnerable peoples,” Seton Hall President A. Gabriel Esteban said in a statement.

“Working with major universities and hospitals, as well as the World Bank, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, she exemplifies the servant leadership spirit that is a profound part of our mission at Seton Hall,” Esteban continued.

Dr. Stanton’s work has continuously been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Fogarty Foundation, the World AIDS Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund, according to Wayne State.

She has also consulted with numerous groups, including the World Bank, World Health Organization, UNICEF, PATH and the International Vaccine Institute.